Preston
An Old English name derived from the word "preost" meaning priest's town.
Name Census estimates that about 105,045 living Americans carry the first name Preston. It sits at #329 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Preston today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Preston births was 2007 (3,813 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Preston. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Preston with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Preston is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 788 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
105K
~ 1 in 3,263 Americans
Peak year
2007
3,813 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#329
Tracked since 1880
Census
Preston in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 87,764 people with the first name Preston, which placed it at #605 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#605
National first-name rank
People counted
88K
87,764 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
29.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Preston
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preston is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Preston described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Preston at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.8% · 63,038
- Black or African American12.1% · 10,654
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 5,205
- Two or more races5.7% · 5,023
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 2,785
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 1,059
Gender
Gender distribution for Preston
Out of the 122,600 babies given the name Preston since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Preston as a male name
- Ranked #329 in 2024
- 1,045 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (3,796 births)
Preston as a female name
- Ranked #6,839 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Preston appears almost entirely male. Of the 87,761 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Preston: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Preston from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 30,493 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Preston by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Preston during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Prestons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Preston, while Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,292 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Preston
The name Preston has its origins in an Old English word "Preost" which means "priest". This name was derived from a surname which referred to the local parish priest or someone who lived near the priest's house or church. The earliest known recorded use of the name dates back to the late 12th century in England.
During the Middle Ages, the name Preston was commonly used in various regions of England, particularly in the northern counties. It was popularized as a given name among the clergy and those associated with the church. The name also appears in several historical records from this period, including parish registers and legal documents.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Preston was Sir Preston Banister, an English soldier and landowner who lived in the late 16th century (circa 1550-1629). Another prominent figure from history was Sir Preston Campbell, a Scottish military commander who fought in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms during the 17th century (1608-1668).
In the 18th century, Preston became more widespread as a first name among the general population. Some notable figures from this era include Preston Edes (1758-1842), an American merchant and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature, and Preston Brooks (1819-1857), an American politician and infamous for his assault on Senator Charles Sumner in the lead-up to the American Civil War.
During the 19th century, the name gained further popularity, particularly in the United States. One notable bearer was Preston King (1806-1865), an American politician and diplomat who served as a U.S. Senator from New York and later as the U.S. Minister to Italy. Another was Preston Sturges (1898-1959), an American writer, director, and comedian who was a prominent figure in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
As the name transitioned into the 20th century, it continued to be used across various English-speaking countries. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Preston Tucker (1903-1956), an American automobile entrepreneur and inventor who designed and built the innovative Tucker '48 sedan.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Preston
People
Preston + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Preston as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Preston: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Preston?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 105,045 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Preston going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,263 US residents.
Is Preston a common name?
We classify Preston as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122,600 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Preston most popular?
The single biggest year for Preston was 2007, when 3,813 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Preston is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Preston in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 87,764 people with the name Preston, or 29.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #605 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Preston in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Preston?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Preston appears almost entirely male. Of the 87,761 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Preston?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Preston is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Black (12.1%) and Hispanic (5.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Preston most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Preston in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.8% (63,038 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Preston in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Preston a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Preston in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Preston still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Preston in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Preston can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Preston?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Preston on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.